Riane (pronounced “Ryan”) Lafferty has been named vice president, labor and employment counsel for Kaleida Health.
In her new role, Lafferty will be responsible for providing labor and employment advice to leaders across the organization and for monitoring federal, state, and local laws and regulations that affect employment. She will work with senior leadership and HR on labor relations strategy and the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements. In addition, she will manage arbitration and mediation proceedings, provide legal advice with respect to employment complaint investigations, and handle litigation matters related to labor and employment matters. She will also develop and provide training for supervisors and employees on a variety of employment-related issues.
Before joining Kaleida Health, Lafferty was of counsel at Littler Mendelson, one of the largest global labor and employment law practices in the country, and previously was a partner at the law firm of Bond Schoeneck and King, where she focused on employment litigation and traditional labor law, appearing before federal and state trial and appellate courts and representing clients in proceedings before administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, New York State Division of Human Rights, and National Labor Relations Board.
Lafferty is a native of Buffalo and received her law degree from Syracuse University College of Law and her bachelor’s degree from the University at Buffalo with honors from both institutions.